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Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Boston is just five weeks away. Which seems sooo long still. Why did I choose a 16-week marathon training plan? I think next time I will go with a 12-week plan. Less time to get bored. And nervous.Anyways, last week was an okay week of training. I developed a sore throat on Tuesday and have been fighting some sort of head cold/sinus congestion crap ever since. Today I could hardly speak. It made teaching ohso enjoyable. (You try commanding the attention of 18 teenagers with the voice of a whisper. Not fun.)We ended up with a snow day last Wednesday, so I ran my 20-miler on the treadmill. It was pretty boring. Kathie Lee & Hoda just aren't as entertaining as they used to be.Saturday, I raced the BBO 4-mile. This was my 3rd year running this race; it's pretty fun. In 2011, I ran 27:07, and in 2012, I ran 25:01. The course is pancake-flat, but there's always a lot of wind on the country roads.Secretly, I hoped to break 24:00 this time around. (Lofty, I know, but I've been training pretty hard!) I won't leave you hanging... that definitely didn't happen.

I'm somewhere in that mess of people. I promise.

You know those races where you just feel so smooth and great and on fire the entire time? This was NOT one of them. About 3 minutes in, I felt like I was going to die. Might have had something to do with the 20-miler 3 days before, or the head cold, or just the fact that sometimes during marathon training, I forget what it's like to run fast. I joked with my Business Man that I felt "probably like you feel EVERY time you try to run." Lol.The first mile was straight into the wind - 5:56. It definitely felt much harder than that. When I rolled through the 2-mile in 12:12 (6:16), I pretty much knew a sub-24 wasn't happening. I'll admit, I mentally gave up a bit at that point. (Where's the fighter in me?! What's gonna happen at mile 20 in Boston when I want to give up?)I went through the 3-mile in 18:15 (6:03)and then finished in 24:29 (6:14). A little disappointed, but still a 30+ second PR on the course. My only faster 4-miler is on an all downhill course, so it's not really comparable.

Doesn't my face at the finish say it all?

I finished up the week with 57 miles... just a couple more weeks of higher mileage before TAPER time! (I am so looking forward to taper right now, but of course once it is here I will be going crazy without running. It's just how it is.)

This week is pretty exhilarating on the running front. (Not.) I've already taken Monday off due to this cold and today's speedwork was replaced with an easy run. We'll see how the rest of the week goes...

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

I had originally planned on writing this post about 2 weeks ago... when I was actually 'halfway' to Boston. Now that two weeks have passed, the title of this blog post had to be changed. So, the Boston Marathon is exactly 6 weeks from yesterday. 41 days away... and I'm feeling pretty good?! (I think...)I have missed the last five weeks of recaps so here's the highlights:

Running. Lots of it. (duh)

The last few week's weekly mileage amounts. Last week's cut-back week of [only, haha] 45 miles was much appreciated.

Some killer long runs... including my first 20 miler of this training cycle, a 16-miler with 12 @ 7:04 pace, and a 15-miler with 4 miles at tempo pace.

New running jacket - my pacer running bud gave me this purple windbreaker and I think I've worn it on almost every run since. Such a fun color!

Lots of this stuff. I'm so over winter. It's March 5, I'm just ready for some temps in the 40s... is that too much to ask for? And we are predicted to get another 3-5 inches tonight. Snow day, please?!

Carbs, as always.

We tried sushi for the first time. Looooved it. And this was just from the grocery store. I imagine the real deal is that much better.

So that's my running in a nutshell. My regular life has been consumed with school and cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes! (Not a bad thing, not at all.)

This weekend will prove to be somewhat challenging. I am racing the Beer Bottle Open 4-mile on Saturday and I also need to run a 20-miler. I am debating whether to do a 15-mile 'cool-down' (ha!) after the race or attempting to run 20 miles the day after an all-out effort. Any advice out there?

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About Me

My name is Sara and I am embarking on my journey of life in good ole Bean Town USA. I'm a cupcake baker (for realz!) and owner of Sara's Sweets. This blog is dedicated to my ramblings about baking, cooking, running, and life.
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Email me at beantownsara@gmail.com!